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by Bittersweet



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Florida Panthers, Fluff, M/M, Vancouver Canucks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-07
Updated: 2014-06-07
Packaged: 2018-02-03 19:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1754965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bittersweet/pseuds/Bittersweet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a game in Vancouver between the Canucks and the Panthers Luongo gets de-aged and Eddie takes care of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

Eddie felt a small tug at the back of his pant leg as he changed after the game with the Panthers and turned around, expecting to see Kesler’s son who had been shadowing his father all week. Instead he a small, dark haired boy, about Ryker’s age in an oversized Panthers jersey.

“Hi Eddie,” the boy said cheerfully, hugging Eddie’s leg.

“Lu?” he said incredulously, catching the attention of the other guys in the locker room.

The boy rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh,” he said before sitting down on the floor.

“What the he—” Kesler cut himself off mid swear.

“Are you sure that’s Luongo?” Booth asked.

The boy, Lu, gave an exasperated sigh and Eddie nodded. “I’m sure.”

“But we saw him leave the ice only half an hour ago,” Hamhuis objected. “He wasn’t a toddler then.”

“You know, the Panthers are probably going to blame us for this,” Burrows said crouching down in front of Luongo and ruffling his hair.

The door to the locker room opened and Henrik came in, finished talking to the media. “What’s going on?” he asked looking at the group of them gathered in front of Eddie’s stall.

“Luongo’s de-aged,” Daniel said from where he was calmly finishing hanging up his gear.

Henrik stared at his brother. “I’ll go talk to Jovanovski,” he said finally.

“Aw, can’t we keep him?” Burrows asked picking Luongo up and making him dissolve into a fit of giggles as he tickled him. “He’s so cute like this!”

“You know he’s going to re-age eventually,” Kesler said grinning.

“At the very least we have to let them know where he is,” Henrik said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Most of the guys left before Henrik returned, only Daniel, Kesler, Burrows, Bieksa, and Eddie still in the locker room when he walked in with the Panthers’ captain.

“Oh god,” Jovanovski said when he saw them. “He really is a toddler.”

“Do you have any idea what caused this?” Kesler asked.

Jovanovski looked uncomfortable. “He and Hayes got into an argument after the game. Luongo stormed out, I’d guess that had something to do with it.”

“Jimmy’s mean,” Luongo chimed in. “And a stupid head.”

“That must have been some argument,” Burrows said.

“It was just tension about the fact that you guys shut us out,” Jovanovski said. “Maybe if I can get Hayes to apologize on the flight home, Luongo will turn back.” Jovanovski reached out to take Luongo.

“No!” Luongo shouted burying his face against Burrows’ shoulder.

“Why don’t you bring Hayes in here?” Daniel suggested. “If an apology will work you don’t have to wait till you’re on a plane to find out.”

“Right. I’ll be right back.” Jovanovski left the room and came back a minute later with Hayes in tow.

Hayes jaw dropped when he saw Luongo. “Shit,” he said. “You weren’t kidding.” He glanced at Jovanovski then walked up to Burrows and addressed Luongo. “Hey Lu,” he said awkwardly. “I’m sorry about what I said, it was rude and unprofessional.”

Luongo didn’t acknowledge him and Hayes scrubbed his hands though his hair, looking upset. “Come on man, you know I didn’t mean it. I was just frustrated.” 

“Okay,” Luongo muttered after a minute but remained a toddler.

“Great. Now what?” Jovanovski said.

“We could take care of him until he turns back,” Henrik offered. “It’ll be easier than trying to fly with a toddler.”

“I guess that would be okay,” Jovanovski said hesitantly. “Take good care of him okay?”

“I really am sorry,” Hayes said again before following his captain out of the locker room.

“So who’s going to take this munchkin?” Burrows asked.

“Eddie,” Luongo said instantly, stretching his arms out.

“Me? But…why don’t you take him Alex?”

Burrows shook his head passing Luongo to him. “Sorry man, I’ve got a date tonight.”

“You’ll be fine Eddie,” Kesler said. “You’re great with kids.”

“But I’ve never had to take care of one by myself before.”

“You’ll do fine. I’ll bring you over some of Ryker’s things and help you get set up.”

Eddie hesitated and Bieksa punched his shoulder lightly. “Come on Eddie, you’re going to make baby Lu cry if you keep trying to pass him off on everyone.”

Almost like he’d been waiting for a cue Luongo’s eyes filled up with tears and he looked up at Eddie. “Please?” he pleaded.

“Okay,” Eddie said crumbling despite his reservations. He knew he’d been played when the tears instantly disappeared from Luongo’s eyes.

They left the arena as a group, Kesler sticking around long enough to move the car seat into Eddie’s car, and Eddie drove back to his apartment, Luongo warbling something in Italian in the backseat.

“I’m hungry,” Luongo said when Eddie opened the back door.

“Okay,” Eddie said relieved. Making food was something he could handle. He picked Luongo up and headed inside. “What did you want to eat?”

“Cheezies!”

“Um…how about we save the Cheezies for desert. I can make macaroni and cheese.”

Luongo nodded thoughtfully. “Okay.”

Eddie put Luongo on the kitchen floor while he started a pot of water boiling and grating the cheese he’d need to make the sauce.

“Kes is here!” Luongo called out when the doorbell rang a few minutes later.

Eddie followed Luongo, who stumbled slightly over the hem of his jersey, to the door and opened it.

“Here you go,” Kesler said bringing in a duffel bag and setting it down on the floor.

“That was fast,” Eddie said.

“Andrea’s nothing if not organized,” Kesler said with a laugh. “How are you doing so far?”

Luongo had unzipped the duffel and started tossing clothes everywhere.

“Well it was going well,” Eddie said grinning. “What are you looking for Lu?”

“Mine,” he declared pulling out a blue and green teddy bear and wandering back into the kitchen.

“I was making macaroni and cheese if you want to join us,” Eddie offered.

“Sure,” Kesler answered. “I’ll even help you clean up after Hurricane Luongo.”

Dinner went off without a hitch and it seemed that Luongo had forgotten about the Cheezies, which Eddie was grateful for since he didn’t actually have any.

Eddie dug out some art supplies that he used when he visited Canuck Place and the three of them sat on the living room floor creating construction paper goalie masks.

“Maybe I missed my calling,” Kesler joked looking about the living room through his new mask.

“You’re not trying to take my job are you?” Eddie asked laughing.

“It would be short lived, I guarantee it.” Kesler looked over at Luongo who was starting to lean sleepily against Eddie. “I guess I’d better get going, it’s going to take me an hour to get all the glitter off of me.”

Eddie glanced at the clock surprised that it had gotten so late. “Yeah. Thanks for all your help Ryan.”

“No problem,” Kesler said. “It was fun.” He leaned forward and ruffled Luongo’s hair. “See you guys later.”

Eddie looked around at the disaster that had once been his living room and decided that clean up could wait until later. He gathered Luongo, who didn’t stir, and the teddy bear into his arms and carried them into his bedroom. He guessed Lu would be okay in the guest room but he worried that he might need something and he’d be too far away. He got ready for bed, remembering to leave the light on in the bathroom as a nightlight, and crawled under the covers. He lay still, staring up at the shadowed ceiling and listening to Luongo’s quiet breathing next to him. He’d had fun with the younger Luongo but he wished it were his Luongo lying next to him. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

 

He woke up later than usual, the brighter sunlight streaming through the open curtains and making him blink. He realized a second later that he was alone in the room and sat up sharply. “Lu?” he called panicking that he had overslept and something might have happened to his young friend.

“Good morning,” Luongo said.

Eddie stared at the full sized Luongo that stepped into the room from the connecting washroom for a second then sprang to his feet and hugged him tightly. “You’re back!”

“Yeah,” Luongo said grinning and hugging him back. “Thanks for taking care of me.”

“I had help,” Eddie reminded him. “I probably wouldn’t have been nearly so calm if Kesler hadn’t stayed until you fell asleep.”

“You would have done fine on your own. Though it was worth it to see Kes wearing a goalie mask.” Luongo laughed.

Eddie grinned. “You know,” he said something occurring to him. “You were only a toddler long enough to miss your flight back. Did you not want to go back?”

“No,” Luongo said softly. “Don’t get me wrong the guys in Florida have been great, but they were talking about going home and all I could think was that I wished I could stay here with you.”

“You think of me when you think of home?”

“Yeah.” Luongo grinned. “Don’t tell anyone I said something that corny.”

“Your secret’s safe with me. So does this mean you have to go back to Florida now?”

“We don’t have any games in the next couple of days so they won’t miss me.” Luongo grinned. “So, any ideas what you want to do?”


End file.
